An unexpected call for an unexpected calling

Saturday night we came home from going out to the cheesecake factory, yum, and there was a message on our phone for me from the first counselor in the Bishopric. The only reason he could be calling for was a new calling, but I just got a calling. He wanted to meet with me before church, so for the rest of the night I played the guessing game that we all do when we know we are going to get a calling. My first thought primary, then Relief society. I went and met with him and the new calling is, Laurel Advisor in the Young woman's, yay. I have always said that I wanted to be in YW and now I will be. Small draw back is the Wednesday night mutuals, but it's a small price to pay for a great calling.

update

Are all of you on vacation or have you guys just dropped your blogs for facebook? Just kidding, its actually been a few days since I've posted anything worth reading. The past couple of weeks have been kind of stressful, with our camera braking, the AC on our car going out, looking for a new car, trying to get the house ready for company, my brother-in-law Scott is in town for business and staying with us and Alan's brother Mark is in town too. We really like having company and are happy they are here, more on this later. Anyways lots has been going on, with not alot of time to post anything.
We don't have our Van yet, but they say hopefully Tuesday, I'll believe it when I see it. If you read the poem that I posted earlier you would have seen that we have been kind of having a hard time with Luke lately I think this is just a thing he is going through and he will hopefully get over it. Luke and Samantha both have a cold or something right now.
I started feeding Sammy cereal a few weeks ago and have tried mixing it with formula, breast milk, water and watered down apple juice and she hasn't been too impressed, so I moved on to veggies and she didn't like any of the once I've tried so far and I'm not going to start giving her fruit just yet. She also wont take the bottle or a sippy cup. She will drinking water from a straw or the cap from a bottle of water, but that's it. She knows what she wants and she wont take anything else. Her eye is clearing up some and she has been a little chatter box lately.
We did get a new camera, we bought a Casio Exilim and you can enjoy the many pictures down below. Their not the greatest quality, we still need to play around with the camera. I'm not sure I like this camera, we've had it for a couple of weeks and it never took me this long to get use to our old camera.

The things I've done

1. Started your own blog

2. Slept under the stars

3. Played in a band (does playing Rock Band for PS3 count)

4. Visited Hawaii

5. Watched a meteor shower

6. Given more than you can afford to charity ( being a college student and paying tithing)

7. Been to Disneyland

8. Climbed a mountain

9. Held a Praying Mantis

10. Sang a solo

11. Bungee jumped

12. Visited Paris

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch

15. Adopted a child

16. Had food poisoning (On my honeymoon )

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty (not to the top, it was to crowded when I was there)

18. Grown your own vegetables

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France

20. Slept on an overnight train

21. Had a pillow fight (what girl hasn't)

22. Hitch hiked

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill

24. Built a snow fort

25. Held a lamb

26. Gone skinny dipping

27. Run a Marathon

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29. Seen a total eclipse

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset

31. Hit a home run (Does baseball on Wii sports count?)

32. Been on a cruise

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors

35. Seen an Amish community

36. Taught yourself a new language

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied (Almost)

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing (I've climb a rock wall before)

40. Seen Michelangelo’s David

41. Sung karaoke

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant

44. Visited Africa

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight

46. Been transported in an ambulance

47. Had your portrait painted

48. Gone deep sea fishing

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling

52. Kissed in the rain

53. Played in the mud

54. Gone to a drive-in theater

55. Been in a movie (Alan and his brothers make movies for fun)

56. Visited the Great Wall of China

57. Started a business

58. Taken a martial arts class

59. Visited Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies (NO, but I've eaten my fare share and then some)

62. Gone whale watching

63. Got flowers for no reason

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma (blood)

65. Gone sky diving

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

67. Bounced a check

68. Flown in a helicopter

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial

71. Eaten Caviar

72. Pieced a quilt

73. Stood in Times Square

74. Toured the Everglades

75. Been fired from a job (Because I was pregnant and my boss hated me)

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London

77. Broken a bone

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person (I was really little so I don't remember)

80. Published a book

81. Visited the Vatican

82. Bought a brand new car

83. Walked in Jerusalem

84. Had your picture in the newspaper

85. Read the entire Bible

86. Visited the White House

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

88. Had chickenpox

89. Saved someone’s life

90. Sat on a jury

91. Met someone famous

92. Joined a book club

93. Lost a loved one (too many...)

94. Had a baby (twice and more to come in the future)

95. Seen the Alamo in person (come on down we'll give you a tour)

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake (gross people swim in that!)

97. Been involved in a law suit

98. Owned a cell phone

99. Been stung by a bee

100. Visited Italy

We have relief

After mush deliberation and a few days in a hot car we decided to buy a new one, well not a new one, but a new one to us. We searched the Internet, saw some prospects until we found the right one. A 2004 Town & Country it fits almost everything we wanted, with some bonuses the sliding doors and the rear door all open with a remote and it has a DVD player! We were planning on buying one next year, but we thought we would take the plunge this year. I am excited because I will no longer be stuck at home while Alan is at work. No pictures yet because we don't actually have the car yet, long story which I will tell, but hopefully we will have it by the end of this week.

Alan found it through the USAA car buying service. We e-mailed them through the service letting them know we were interested. The next day we got up and drove to the dealership, well while we were on our way there they gave us a call and told us they actually couldn't find the car, how do you loose an entire car? Any ways they said they had some other vans we could look at. Alan was really upset because he thought that this would be the perfect fit. When we got there they had found the car, someone had messed up on logging the car in, the pictures that we saw online must have not been of this specific car because this car was not as clean. The inside of the car looked like this big family had just gotten done with a long car trip, driven to the dealership piled out and traded this car in for a brand new one, it was filthy, the dealership had just gotten the car in on the 15th and I guess hadn't had time to clean it, but I don't know why they posted it on the Internet if it wasn't ready. There was some body work that needed to be done that they had already schedule, other that it drove great, sounded fine and it pasted their safety inspection. We did buy a 2 year warranty so we will be okay.

How will he
remember me
my wee son?
The angry looks
or the many books.
The time I’ve spent
or the words that weren’t meant.
The love is here
will he remember,
when he is there?
Will the harsh words
break the cords
that bind our family?
He will grow,
he will know.
The mistakes where made
the hurt will fade.
The time is short,
we will seek port.
The love is here
please stay near.

By Natalie Chase

Sweltering Heat

I have always known it can be really hot here that has been one of the many reasons I have had a hard time living here, but you just have to go out side early in the morning and almost everything has AC except our car, that's right the AC went out on our car this past Saturday on a day it was up too 100 degrees. We now have to decide if we are going to buy a new car this year instead of next year like we planned or just suffer till the heat cools down in about 3 months.

I love a baby in jeans

LDS night with the San Antonio Missions

Last night we went to LDS night for our local minor league baseball team the San Antonio Missions. We sat with our friends the Wilson's in some really great seats. We thought that we would be in the sun, seats with no backs, but the seats were about 20 rows behind home plate and all undercover with a nice back to lean up against. Luke loves sporting events and Samantha did okay till about the 6th inning when we decided to leave. We even saw Aaron and Rebecca there. We had a fun time even thought they lost. I think we will probably go again since the stadium is basically right down the street from us. Alan also saw his old Bishop from St. Louis, Bishop Gary Long from when he was 14 years old. He and his family live in San Antonio also. Small world, huh?

This is Rebecca Wilson holding her Nephew Kade who was born less then a month before Samantha. We hope they will become great friends.

An amazing first date with Coldplay

Alan and I had an awesome time at the Coldplay concert last night. It was our first date in a long time. There was 2 opening bands the first one we didn't know, but the second one walls Snow Patrol and they were great. I love the atmosphere at a concert. I wish we had our camera with us. At one point they went up into the audience and played a few songs from there. They seem like such nice guys and they are pretty funny too. It was a wonderful mother's day gift and a great way for my to finally take the plunge and leave Samantha.
It was also the first time we left Samantha for a long period of time. I have left her with Alan before and I left her with my cousin's wife Rebecca for about an hour, but for those couple of times I was able to feed her just before I left so I knew she wouldn't be hungry, but this time we were gone for about 5 hours. We left the kids with our good friends the Wilson's so that if Sammy had a hard time they could just focus on out kids and not have worry about anyone else. She doesn't really take the bottle so I was really worried, but she did great, both kids did. Sammy did exactly what I hoped she would when she got hungry she was like that's not what I want that is, not my mommy, she cried for a little bit and then started rubbing her eyes like she was tired. Sister Wilson just layed her down, which I have never done before and she just fell asleep after about a minute. I am so happy she did so well, that both kids did so well. Thanks Alan for a great night.

What a beautiful song

This is such a beautiful song, with a wonderful message. Thought I would share it with you.

Awesome blog Layouts

I just found this awesome new website to get layouts for blogs, thank you Cindy. I thought I would share it with you all since I know we all like to have great looking blogs.

srappingblogs.blogspot.com

Bad luck

Our camera broke this past weekend :(. I don't think it can be fixed, so we are probably going to have to buy a new one and hopefully sooner rather then later. No new cute pics of the kids till we can get a new one, but on a brighter side the Coldplay concert is this Wednesday yay!

Chicken Little

Okay so I joined Face book yesterday for about an hour. Sorry to all those who got an e-mail. I got on and was just really overwhelmed. So yes Naomi I chickened out. I guess I don't really get the point of face book. I figure that I already do the blog thing which keeps me pretty busy as is and there is always e-mail. If people don't want to look at the blog or take the time to drop me an e-mail to get in touch with me then I guess their busy too or it just doesn't matter to them. I'm having a hard enough time trying to make new friends in my new ward that I'm not sure if now is the time to re-connect with old friends from high school, Plus I didn't exactly hang out with the greatest bunch of kids, yes they were like family to me at one point, but I am at a different place in my life now and not sure if I want to bring up bad memorise from the past. I'm sure I'll probably join again some time in the future, but for now just drop me a comment on my blog or send an e-mail and I will the do the same for you because I love you all and would like to keep in contact with you.

A vaction like weekend

We had a wonderful weekend that almost felt like we were on vacation. We had a relaxing Friday night after Alan got home and we went and picked out a new color for our family room. Saturday morning we went to the zoo. It was Samantha's first time, but she slept through most of it. Luke loves seeing all the animals and it was a good way for me and Alan to get in some exercise. Luke and I went into the butterfly exhibit where they have all these butterflies flying around. I love butterflies, but it was kind of weird because I was so worried about stepping on one or having one land on me and Luke kind of got scared.

We went home and Alan grilled hot dogs on the grill for us which we love, we all took naps and then we went swimming at the neighborhood pool. This was our first time going. They have a big pool shaped like the state of Texas and there is a kiddie pool that is only 1 1/2 feet deep with a little fountain in the middle. Sammy and I spent the whole time in the kiddie pool. I was worried that Sammy wouldn't like the water, but when I put her feet in she didn't cry or anything. She didn't really play in the water, but I think she was enjoying it. She was so comfortable in the water and I think so tired from being out so much that she actually fell a sleep in the water, can you believe that she actually fell asleep in the water. After the pool we went and had a nice dinner at a great Italian restaurant. It was a real enjoyable day.